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In April 1997 Iranian Brigadier General Arasteh, a deputy head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces declared that Iran had successfully designed, constructed, and tested its first fighter aircraft. By late 1997 Iran had begun mass-producing the aircraft [2] and by mid-2000 four aircraft were said to be undergoing operational tests, with production proceeding at a rate of around ten aircraft per year[citation needed].

Iran has yet to release any additional information about the aircraft and its capabilities are unknown.

On May 17, 2000, Iran's acting commander of the Air Force said that Azarakhsh had reached mass-production stage.[6] On August 5, 2007, Azarakhsh conducted a successful test flight.[7] On August 6, 2007, Ministry of Defense Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said, "[Azarakhsh] is now at the stage of industrial production and its mass production will start in the future." [8]

The HESA Saeqeh is a follow on aircraft, derived from the Azarakhsh fighter.[citation needed] As with many previous indigenous Iranian developed weapons, no performance data has been released to verify official claims. An unknown number of this generation have built and said to have entered service with IRIAF September 22, 2007.[9][10]